


Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

by MangoTea



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Doctor Strange (Comics), Iron Man (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Characters play D&D, Halloween, M/M, Nerdiness, Pre-Slash, jokes that only amuse me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 07:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16471061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MangoTea/pseuds/MangoTea
Summary: Ridiculous D&D flavored Halloween fluff. Stephen returns from a mission with a new pet. Draws a bit on the comics characterizations of Stephen and Tony.





	Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

“I need gold in small pieces.”

Tony blinked at the message on his phone. Since the universe decimating events were over, he hadn’t seen Doctor Stephen Strange much. He’d dropped by the Sanctum time and again only to find that Stephen and Wong were out training or fighting demons.

“How small?” He texted back.

“Pea sized should work.”

Tony glared at his phone for a moment, then decided to save his glares for when he could glare at Stephen himself, not just his messages.

“Anything else?” he replied.

“Could they be shaped like little bones?”

Tony’s draw dropped slightly. 

Another text from Stephen quickly followed. “Maybe make bones later, just bring some pellets as soon as you can.”

Tony dropped his phone into his pocket and walked into his lab. The giant space was divided into spaces for computer work, fabrication and old fashioned metal smithing and casting. The materials he kept on hand at all times alone could buy a dozen Lamborghinis, and maybe a few mansions to park them at. He looked over orderly containers of metals and chose some 24 karat gold. If a wizard needed gold then he likely needed the purest possible. He walked to his garage, jumped in the back of a car and let Friday drive him into the city.

When he arrived at the Sanctum, Wong opened the door just before he knocked. 

“I hate my life,” Wong said.

“What is going on?”

“The Weirdo Supreme is on the third floor.”

Tony looked at Wong for a moment, but no more information came forth. Tony shrugged and walked to the stairs. Wong followed him.

“Our lives are chaotic enough. One of the struggles of our order is to find normalcy and familiarity, find ways to ground ourselves in mundane things, things of the world we protect,” Wong said.

Tony paused to look back at him. “And?”

Wong just gestured up the stairs. 

Tony sighed and kept walking. 

Stephen was sitting in the middle of what Tony assumed was his work area. The unending light pollution of the city poured through the giant circular window and pooled around him. He sat lotus style reading a strange calligraphic script. Next to him were piles of books, fabrics and an old chest.

“Tony, did you bring them?” Stephen looked up.

Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag and tossed it over. The metal made a distinct sound as Stephen caught it. Tony could have sworn that the chest moved slightly.

Stephen’s eyes lit up. The usually serious man looked like a kid who’d just gotten a full sized candy bar while tick or treating. He reached in a pulled out a small piece. 

“Wizards like treasure? Did he catch some literal form of gold fever?” Tony asked.

“I wish,” said Wong. 

“Is he secretly a dragon? If he needs a hoard too sleep on, I can get to work.”

“If Stephen was a dragon he’d hoard books or ways to annoy me.” Wong got a thoughtful look on his face. “Wait a minute...”

Tony grinned at Wong. He worried about Stephen, always off on his strange missions that no Avengers could understand, much less help out on. Tony found it comforting that Stephen had a partner in crime, so to speak. 

Stephen ignored their banter. He tossed the shining metal up in the air and then caught it. This time, the chest definitely moved. 

Tony looked down at the chest. It looked for all the world like a prop from a movie set, maybe one based on a video game. It had a pair of latches, and a key hole between them. The top was rounded. The fittings appeared to be brass. 

“Who’s a good mimic?” Stephen held the treat over the chest.

The latches fell away and two glowing red dots appeared, peering around like eyes. The keyhole twitched like a nose scenting the air. The top sprung open and fangs at least three inches long appeared in the center of it’s mouth. Red cloth patterned like a fine Persian rug rolled out next to the fangs like a tongue hanging out the side of a dog’s mouth. 

The mimic rose to reveal six small furry legs ending in claws. Then, the mimic jumped. 

“You might want to stand back,” Stephen said. 

Wong and Tony started to move, but before they got far Stephen threw the gold into the center of the room. The mimic rushed by, jumped and caught the treat. The mimic ran around the room excitedly. Stephen watched it with a dreamy smile on this face. 

“They’re real. Mimics are real,” Stephen said. 

“He’s keeping it like a pet,” Wong said. “He’s trying to tame it.”

Tony stared. Old memories of late night D&D from his college days came flooding back. The dungeons he’d mapped, the defeat of Strahd, and yelling about gazebos. 

“Where did you find it?” Tony asked.

“We were leaving the caves of Fanahere when I noticed that one of the chests was bleeding. I thought it was a trick of the light at first.”

“You went on a dungeon crawl and found a mimic?”

“Something like that.”

“It eats gold?”

“Seems to. I am still trying to figure out how to best care for it.”

“Come by later and let it sniff through my blacksmith supplies. I have pretty much every mineral and compound known to Humanity.”

Tony heard a soft slap and turned to see Wong with this forehead firmly in his hand.

“What is wrong with both of you?” Wong said.

“It’s a mimic! Haven’t you ever played D&D? Or video games or … I guess not,” Tony trailed off.

“I didn’t realize that lore about Rimtrea had found it’s way into Earth stories,” Wong said. “You both think it’s … cute?”

“It’s amazing,” Stephen said. The mimic had run back over to him and he scratched it behind it’s handles. 

“Can I feed it a treat?” Tony asked. He’d have been hard pressed to choose which he enjoyed seeing more, a mythical creature from his teenage nostalgia dreams or the happy and open expression on Stephen’s usually stoic features. 

“I don’t know how much to feed it, so I am starting with one bit of gold per day. If you come by tomorrow you can have a turn.”

“At least it’s not carnivorous. Stephen, was my Monster Manual wrong?” Tony clutched at his chest dramatically. 

“Not sure. If it tries to eat me in my sleep I’ll let you know.”

“What are you going to call it?”

“Gary.”

Tony laughed. “Perfect. I should bring by my gaming books so Wong can tell us what else is real.”

“Good idea! If Gygax knew about mimics, what else did he know? We should do lots of research, and have Wong roll up a character to help him understand the books.”

“Maybe we should even play some one-shots, purely for research and understanding things in their proper context.”

“I’m being dragged into this?” Wong said. 

“Of course,” Stephen said. “Don’t you want to understand all this better, understand me better?”

“Not really, a game night sounds fun,” Wong replied.

“Do you ever dungeon master?” Stephen asked Tony.

“Sometimes. I also have Friday programmed to run sessions, but I can never find the time or people to game with anymore. D&D has had a huge comeback and I’m just on the sidelines.”

“Lets play some night. Invite Peter. Somehow, I feel like he’d never forgive us if we played without him.”

“Are you sure you want to play at adventuring? You are actually out there, dungeoning. All the times I’ve been by, have you been buying treasure maps at taverns and looking for traps at the entrances of ancient forgotten temples?”

“You’ve been by?” Wong asked.

“A few times. I had a few dinners with Masters Amriel and Aristide when you were on missions. How are they, by the way?” Tony said casually, with a wave of his hand. Feelings of awkwardness clawed at his stomach, but he pushed them down and bottled them as always. He didn’t want them to know how often Tony had tried casually dropping by.

“They seemed good when they handed guardianship of the Sanctum back to us. They enjoyed their time in New York, said we worked with good people here,” Wong said. 

“Most of our work is gross, hard and tedious,” Stephen said. “Sometimes, there is a spark of wonder, a glimpse of an ancient city or a sea frozen into jade. I need to treasure those moments, love them. That’s why, when I found Gary, I couldn’t leave him to be eaten by the wyverns.” 

Gary waddled over to a dark spot under the window and settled down to rest. 

“I know I may need to release Gary into whatever his natural habitat is, but for now he’s still healing,” Stephen continued. 

“You adore that bizarre thing,” Wong said. “If having a Rimtrea as a pet is possible then the Sanctum will just become a bit weirder.” 

“I’ll keep him in golden chow if you let me feed him sometimes. If you don’t at least get some dorky pet pictures with Gary, what even is the point of magic?”

Stephen laughed and collapsed into a chair. “To wear sorcerers to bits, I guess. I’m sorry we’ve missed you. Being so distant and then asking for gold must have seemed a bit abrupt.”

“It’s possible I only agreed to come by because sarcasm doesn’t work well in text, and neither do exasperated glares.” Tony grinned at him. 

“I am sorry. I should have realized.”

“Don’t be, I know what it’s like.”

“Stay for dinner” Wong said. “We can make plans for this terribly important research.”

“I’d love to,” Tony said. Again, he was a study in casualness. Stephen and Wong didn't mind him being around. The difficulty in reaching them had just been the dangerous and stressful lives they lead, and nothing else. A sense of relief warmed him and he found his own chair to sink into. Wong regarded him thoughtfully. Gary shuffled over to rest at Stephen’s feet. 

Epilogue:

“I pickpocket the Warlock,” Tony said. He then rolled a one, a critical failure.

“You trip and land sprawled across him,” Friday said. Her holographic form wore a shirt that read ‘Humans & Households’.

“I act like I meant to do that,” Tony said.

“Since he’s there, I rest my ale on the useless Bard in my lap,” Stephen said.

Peter leaned over to Wong and said in a stage whisper “Is this some awkward gamer nerd form of flirting?”

“Hrmmm.” Wong peered at them across the table. 

“Probably,” said Rhodey. His voice had a weary tone honed over decades. “He’s done weirder things.”

“Speaking of weird,” Peter said, “why do you keep running a hand over that chest, Stephen? It’s like you’re petting it.”

“I’ll show you why when the pizza arrives,” Stephen said with a wide grin.

“Let’s just ignore them and find some trouble,” Wong said. “My Barbarian finished those Goblins too easily. He’s itching for more of a challenge.” 

“I have just the thing,” Shuri said. “Friday, I open the scrolls we found in the cave and start to read them.”

“Which one do you start with?” Friday said.

“The one with the most intricate seal,” Shuri said, and reached for her dice.

“Okay,” Friday said. “Everyone roll initiative.”

**Author's Note:**

> "Beauty is in the eye of The Beholder, unfortunately the rest of the party is in the stomach of The Beholder." ~ Old D&D Proverb


End file.
